How much power do shareholders have over companies? Judging by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's comments to "Axios on HBO" this week, it must be quite a lot.
Catch up quick: Khosrowshahi praised Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who sits on Uber's board and is a close friend of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "He's been a very constructive board member," Khosrowshahi said, "and I personally have valued his input greatly."
Despite some splashy pledges, the energy industry overall is just at the early stages of adopting "net-zero" carbon emissions plans, a new report shows.
Why it matters: Achieving global net-zero emissions by mid-century is a widely cited target in a steep uphill battle to meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 °C.
New data and projections confirm the emergence of the U.S. as a net exporter of crude oil and liquid petroleum products (gasoline, diesel and and more) combined.
Why it matters: The inflection point underscores the growth of the U.S. as a petro-superpower, although we still import millions of barrels of crude oil per day and production growth is slowing.
Daimler announced over $1 billion in job cuts over the next three years on Thursday, citing the costs of moving the company toward a more climate-friendly product line and meeting EU emissions targets.
Why it matters: The German auto behemoth's announcement is a sign of how the wider industry's movement toward electric vehicles and automated technology will be a bumpy ride.
Climate change is creating a warmer world, and a new international report says children growing up in it will face more health problems than their parents did, per AP.
The big picture: Climate change is already impacting people's health — through problems like increasing diarrhea and mosquito-borne diseases — but that'll get worse if greenhouse gas emissions aren't curbed, per the report, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet.
An Arctic blast striking the Midwest carried over into the eastern U.S., bringing record-low temperatures to parts of New York, Vermont and Ohio on Wednesday, AP reports.
S&P Global Market Intelligence has a great look at the pledges from big power companies — like Duke Energy, Xcel Energy, PSEG — to reach net-zero emissions or 100% zero-carbon generation by 2050.
The problem: The companies don't really know how they'll get all the way there without significant increased development and scaling of technologies like "carbon capture and sequestration, advanced nuclear reactors and battery storage" — and that's likely to need help from the federal government.
Existing and announced policies worldwide won't be nearly enough to rein in carbon emissions, despite the strong growth of climate-friendly energy sources, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
Why it matters: The IEA's annual World Energy Outlook reports are among the most prominent attempts to model where energy systems are headed in the decades ahead. These big and data-rich studies (this year's weighs in at 810 pages) are widely cited by policymakers, analysts and other stakeholders.
Venice's mayor declared a state of emergency and closed all schools after the highest high tide in more than 50 years hit the city on Tuesday night, according to the New York Times.
What's happening: Sea water rose to around six feet before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, and at least one person has died as a result. Famous tourist locations, like St. Mark’s Square and the crypt of St. Mark’s Basilica, were flooded by more than three feet on Wednesday.
In separate but similar efforts this week, a corporate lobbying campaign and a grassroots interest group are both calling on Washington to pass a carbon tax.
Driving the news: Americans for Carbon Dividends, an industry-backed lobbying group, is launching a six-figure advertising campaign Wednesday promoting a carbon tax whose proceeds are returned to consumers. Separately, nearly 1,000 advocates with Citizens Climate Lobby were on Capitol Hill Tuesday pushing a similar policy.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg says she can attend the United Nations' climate summit in Spain after all — she's due to set sail across the Atlantic aboard an Australian couple's 48-foot catamaran from Hampton, Va., on Wednesday morning.
